


Simplicity

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Magic!Stiles, Mild Angst, SterekMagic, faery!Stiles, sterekweek2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:55:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8393440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: It was only then that he noticed he wasn't in his room, or any room that he recognized as a matter of factHe was in a hospital room...But.. he didn't remember being in one before he fell asleep, and this room looked really unfamiliar too..."Where the hell am I?""New York,"Of all the answers Stiles expected- hell of all the answers he could have ACCEPTED- THAT was not one of them"....Swing that by me again?"





	

**Author's Note:**

> Sleigh Beggy Stiles is a pet desire of mine so I took this theme and ran with it, especially since magic!Stile is possibly my all time biggest headcanon ever ;) Sadly I had to get most of my info on Sleigh Beggys from The Ancient Magus Bride since the actual story of them is not very informative :( But I tried atleast!

When Stiles woke it was with a gasp, air swallowed into his lungs like sea water for a drowning man

He felt something warm and slightly heavy resting on his shoulder and he could hear some kind of muffled sound, like a voice, but his mind was swimming, too foggy to truly make anything out

_".... I....."_

_"....Iles..."_

_"..St- ... ile..s...."_

_"..Stiles,"_

_"Stiles!"_

He blinked, swallowing tightly and slowly looking up at the person who was speaking to him

It felt like all of a sudden he was slammed back into reality, the weight on his back was a hand, the buzzing in his ear was his name...

"Derek?" he mumbled, looking up slowly and locking eyes with the older man

He couldn't really be here... could he?

He hadn't seen Derek in over a year, and yet... here he was, hair the same ink black, eyes the same green-gold-copper-weirdness that they always were, face with the same lines of concern... it was Derek alright

"Hey... are you alright?" the werewolf asked slowly, moving a little bit closer to him

"I... guess so...?"

 

Derek shifted in his chair, looking uncomfortable as he stared down at the floor, seeemingly trying to find the right words before looking back up at Stiles again

"I don't know how or why you're here, last night I heard a noise, when I went to my living room... there you were, asleep on the couch,"

"That isn't possible," Stiles sighed, sitting up a little more and rubbing his eyes as he glanced up at the werewolf

"I was home last night, ok? I... I remember... yesterday I was home, I made lasagna for my dad... I mean.. granted it was early in the evening but still..."

"Stiles, you're in New York, I don't know how you got here or .. what happened yesterday, all I can tell you is that you're here now,"

Stiles rubbed his face, groaning quietly and trying not to react too much worse than that

"How are you feeling?" Derek asked a moment later, though Stiles wasn't sure if he was sincerely curious or just trying to break the ice

"You mean besides frustrated and confused? My head hurts,"

"I'll tell the nurse to get you some Advil or something,"

"Does anyone else know I'm here?" Stiles asked suddenly, glancing up at the werewolf

"No, I was going to call your father but-"

"Good, I'm glad you didn't," Stiles said quietly, looking down and pausing before continuing, "I don't want him to worry,"

"Don't you think you should call though? To let him know where you are?"

"I'll... I'll tell him I'm ok," Stiles shrugged back, wich wasn't exactly comforting but Derek wasn't about to push, Stiles' relationship with his father was really one of the last relationships Derek needed to be intruding on

"Are you going back right away?"

Stiles glanced up, shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck

"No... no I need to figure out why I'm here, HOW I'm here... I have a feeling I won't get that answer in Beacon Hills, so... if it's ok with you, I'm gonna stay here until I figure it out,"

Ok with him? It was a dream come true for him

As much as Derek enjoyed being away from Beacon Hills- from the memories and the pain and the constant suffering and threats- being away from Stiles hurt him more than he had ever been directly ready to deal with

"It's fine with me, you can stay at my house as long as you need to,"

Stiles nodded slowly, apparently taking a moment to process that information before jerking his head up and feeling his mouth drop open in surprise

"Wah- .. your HOUSE? You have a HOUSE? Why do you have a HOUSE!?"

"Because New York apartments are tiny and expensive? Besides, I own a few different houses around here, seems a shame to not use any of them,"

Stiles squinted at him, not entirely sure how to take that, he knew Derek dealt with real estate (sort of) and it would make sense that all of the money he had couldn't be tied up in the ONE building he owned in Beacon Hills but... somehow he had never quite put the peices together that Derek ACTUALLY owned real estate as like... a thing.....

"Take me to this oh glorious house, I have GOT to see this thing,"

Derek couldn't help giving a slight chuckle, standing from his chair and rolling his shoulders a little

"Sure, let me get you discharged and then we'll go,"

Stiles felt his jaw twitch, staring up at the ceiling in amazement as Derek left

He still wasn't sure what brought him here but... he wasn't sure how he was going to ever convince himself to leave...

~+~

"I have six houses, four apartment buildings, a condo timeshare, and three businesses, the rest of the money is tied up in investments, CDs, bonds, etc... and the age old 'under the mattress' trick,"

"Good _lord_!" Stiles huffed, staring at Derek with a scrunched up look on his face

"Ofcourse it isn't all in New York, I only have a few buildings in this state, it's spread out through the country for security purposes,"

"Are you SURE you're the Derek Hale I know?" Stiles asked skeptically

All of this just sounded too... professional

And sure he knew Derek was smart but he had never thought of him as being _investment banking smart_

He wasn't quite sure what to do with this new information if he was being honest...

"I'm sure,"

"So where was all of this majesty when you were living in a TRAIN CAR exactly?" he huffed

Derek was quiet for a moment, clearly the mood had dropped without Stiles having intended it to

"I.. didn't own any properties in California until I bought the loft building.... and the money I would have needed for one was mostly tied up in legalities at the time because of Laura..."

Oh... Stiles hadn't considered that, but then he remembered back when his mother died how much stress his father was under and how often he met with the lawyer, the house was in his mother's name and so was the jeep, as well as other, more financially important things that Stiles was too young to understand at the time, but he remembered the greif his father went through....

Derek had to have had it so much worse, with the circumstances of Laura's death and the fact that they were both apparently into making investments and stuff...

"So how come they're spread out so much?" Stiles asked curiously, finally getting back to the spirit of atleast trying to talk to him

"We thought it was a good idea at the time, with how much we potentially would have had to move around if any hunters had followed us here or if they had just shown up here to begin with, we were going to use them as safe houses, for a lack of better term,"

Stiles nodded slowly, it made sense, that much was true....

"What kind of businesses do you own?"

"A bar and two restaurants, one of the restaurants went under so it's just the one now, they're just local places, no big deal, and I don't own the businesses, just the buildings,"

That was still about a million times more than Stiles expected though, if he was being honest...

He wasn't really sure how it was that he had expected Derek made money all this time but... this wasn't it...

"Wow, that's... wow,"

Derek couldn't help smirking slightly, Stiles was obviously impressed and well.... people weren't impressed with him all that often, it was a nice feeling to have

"This is the one I'm living in now,"

Stiles had barely even noticed that the car had stopped, glancing out the window and seeing a small, but cozy looking house in front of them

It was .. well.. quaint, as much as Stiles hated that word, it was two stories and kind of plain looking and ... it suited Derek, in a way

But it made him wonder why he had all the extra space, sure maybe he just didn't have a smaller place in New York but still...

"How come you decided to come back here?" Stiles asked absently as Derek turned the engine off

Things were silent for a minute, clearly neither of them had really expected that to be asked but now that it was.. it was hanging there in the open, just waiting for a response, and it couldn't really be one of those questions said in passing that could be easily ignored

"Because of Laura," he finally said, looking down and staring blankly at his hands as he spoke

"I ... came back, after my trip with Braeden... to clean out our old apartment, wile I was here I had to settle some legal stuff so... I moved into this house in the mean time, it was a fixer-upper so it gave me something to do wile I waited and .... before I knew it six months had gone by, the house was nice, I ... sort of knew people here, in a place where they didn't know me yet, I was ... building something without realizing it and honestly, by the time it hit me, I didn't want to leave it, it was a clean slate that I didn't have in Beacon Hills and- ... it was never a conscious decision to stay here,"

"Until it was," Stiles mused

And Derek nodded, agreeing even though he didn't come right out and say it

"I did think about going back, for what it's worth, I got in the car atleast.... seven or eight times but I could never start the engine, I never meant to leave you and Scott and everyone in such a-"

"Hey, no, don't.... don't do that, ok? Don't, I mean..... you got out, ok? You got out and you need to stay out and yeah that sucks for everybody else but you've already had an entire city's share of problems in your life and if this is working for you then.... good, then that's good and you need to stay here and keep it working, I mean hell.... anybody who GETS OUT deserves to stay out, you know? That's not an easy accomplishment,"

"Does that include you?"

They hadn't talked about it, what Stiles was doing, how things were, where he was....

And Stiles intended to keep it that way, atleast for now

"Let's go inside huh? I'm starving, do you have food?"

Derek rolled his eyes, getting out of the car and shaking his head

"No Stiles, I live on the souls of my enemies," he said dryly

"Eh... a balanced enough diet but it kind of lacks fiber," Stiles joked back

And just like that, they fell into eachother again

~+~

Stiles had fallen asleep again not too long after they got into the house, wich wasn't entirely surprising Derek supposed, depending on how he had gotten here he must be worn out

So with Stiles being exhausted and Derek being... at less than full energy... the wolf decided that maybe it would be best to order a pizza

He didn't know when the last time was that Stiles ate but he had been here for over sixteen hours now and hadn't had anything to eat so he figured food was probably a good idea

Thirty-five minutes into waiting on the pizza there was a nock on the door, figuring it to the pizza guy, Derek grabbed his wallet and swung the door open...

Only to find that it was not, in fact, the pizza guy

"Kara?"

"Hi!!"

To say he was surprised to say his neighbor was standing at his door holding pizza was putting it mildly

"What-?"

"The pizza guy delivered it to my house by mistake so I thought I would just bring it over myself," she explained

"You really didn't have to do that you know, you could have just sent him this way," Derek said gently, pulling out the money for the pizza and offering it to her

"O-Oh it was no trouble! We had a long talk and... well things.. ended up this way,"

Wich was probably awkward 22-year-old speak for "I have a crush on the pizza guy please don't take this away from me or say it out loud"

Derek got it, he was only 26 after all, and contrary to popular beleif he had, in fact, had a life before the long standing pain and suffering story arc began

"I'm glad you had a nice talk," he smiled, taking the pizza box from her and raising his eyebrows as she stuck her head in the doorway, a little odd given that she wasn't usually a nosey person- one reason Derek actually found her to be such a good neighbor and they had formed something of a freindship over the last year

"Oh.... my God..... you never told me you knew a Sleigh Beggy!" she grinned

"A... what?"

"A Sleigh Beggy!" she repeated, practically jumping with excitement as she looked back up at him

Ofcourse, Kara herself being half faery was another reason she made a good neighbor, when anything supernatural went on in Derek's life it was one less person he had to try to hide it form

"I have no idea what that is," he said honestly

"Well... you have one sleeping on your couch, maybe you should ask him?" she said with a small shrug, stepping back from the porch and waving at him

"Anyway, I should get going now, enjoy your pizza!!"

And just as soon as she had arrived, she was gone, leaving Derek in the doorway with his pizza and very confused

~+~

"Oh my God... I can't believe I fell asleep again," Stiles mumbled, sitting up slowly and rubbing his eyes

"It's ok, your body obviously needed it," Derek replied simply

The younger male groaned, rubbing his head now as he glanced tiredly up at the wolf

"How long was I out for?"

"Only three hours,"

"Pft... _only_ ," he scoffed back

"Stiles... your body needed the sleep, I don't know what you've been through in the last twenty-four hours but it was clearly stressfull and draining, and... I don't know how much sleep you're getting at home but I'm willing to bet it isn't alot,"

"Wow, thanks Dr. Oz, that's a brilliant diagnosis, I'll make sure to catch up on sleep, drink more water, and avoid stressers wile I'm at it," he mocked

"I'm not trying to be a jerk Stiles, I'm just trying to help,"

"You know what would help? Caffeine, caffeine would help,"

Derek narrowed his eyes, standing up and walking into the kitchen

For a minute Stiles really thought he was going to get him the caffeine he had asked for, until he brought back a plate of pizza and a bottle of sprite

"No caffeine, I'm not enabling you,"

Stiles wrinkled his nose, but made grabby hands and reached out for the pizza anyway

"You're being incredibly mean to me you know, but I forgive you because you have pizza," he mumbled, taking the plate and curling up on the couch with his legs criss-crossed as a table for his plate

Derek didn't really answer, sitting down on the coffee table in front of him and glancing at the floor for a moment before speaking again

"Stiles.... what's a Sleigh Beggy?"

Stiles glanced up, clearly not startled or even very interested

"I don't know, sounds like a Christmas jingle, why do you ask?"

"Because my neighbor seems to think that you are one,"

Slowly, Stiles set his pizza down, brushing his hands off on his jeans and waving his hands erratically

"Ok... back up there Sherlock, what neighbor?"

"My... my neighbor Kara, she brought the pizza over... she's half faery, she said that you were something called a Sleigh Beggy, she seemed pretty certain of it,"

Stiles stared at him for a moment, a frown on his face as he picked up his pizza again

"Uh-huh," he muttered back absently

Derek sighed, shaking his head slowly

"Stiles... something happened to you, you must have gotten here SOMEHOW, and if you don't remember... maybe a Sleigh Beggy is involved,"

Stiles sighed quietly, rubbing at his eyes and swallowing tensely

"Alright, so... what do we do then? What's a Sleigh Beggy anyway?"

Derek's face pinched, glancing down and biting his lip

"I... don't really know, I tried to look it up but I keep getting conflicting information, some people say it's a faery, others say it's human, some people say it has magic and others say it doesn't-"

"Ok, so what exactly is your plan then Derek? Because if you don't even know what it is you're looking for-"

"No, but Kara seemed to know something about them considering how sure she seemed that you are one, maybe we could talk to her,"

"How much can you really trust this neighbor freind of your's? I mean, no offense but... well.... it IS you and a female who suspiciously knows about the supernatural, it doesn't spell 'great idea',"

"I never said we were going to have some kind of open heart to heart with her or anything, I'm just suggesting we ask her about it, and if what she says sounds odd or ... just not right, then we don't listen, but we have to get our information from somewhere,"

Stiles pursed his lips, staring tensely at the other male before heaving a sigh of resignation

"When did you become the one who trusts people more easily?"

Derek's lips quirked up in a smirk and he chuckled, shaking his head

"It comes with evolution, now finish your pizza, it's one thing to show up randomly on someone's door step, another thing to do it after dark,"

~+~

"I can't believe we're doing this," Stiles mumbled, sighing quietly and leaning a little bit closer to the werewolf and wrinkling his nose

"Is it just me or is it cold out here?"

Wich seemed kind of strange considering it was about to enter August

"It's just you," Derek confirmed a moment later, reaching out and pressing the doorbell

Not even a second after the sound of a little dog barking deafened them both, making them cringe as the barking seemed to only increase in tempo and volume

Luckily when the door opened the barking stopped, given that the dog was now face to face with the "intruders" (not to mention held securely in Kara's arms)

"Oh, Derek! This is a surprise, is everything ok?"

"Um, yes, sorry for coming over unannounced but I was hoping you could possibly help us with something?"

The blonde blinked up at him, giving a small nod and ushering them into her house

"Sure um... what is it?"

"Derek said you know something about Sleigh Beggy? Namely that I am one...?"

"O-Oh! Hi! Yes!" she said a bit awkwardly, setting the dog down before shutting the door behind them

"I'm Kara, by the way, it's nice to meet you .. um...?"

"Stiles,"

"It's nice to meet you Stiles!"

"Not that having a meet-and-greet with Derek's neighbors isn't fun, but .. the slay-thingy?" Stiles interrupted a second later

"Oh yes! The Sleigh Beggy! I'm guessing by the fact that you guys are asking that you were um.... freshly... awakened?"

Stiles wrinkled his nose, glancing at Derek over his shoulder as they followed the blonde into the living room

The place was... charming, in a really suburban kind of way

(Wich is to say it looked like an eighty-two-year-old grandmother lived there with her seventeen cats, the amount of floral and cat themed decor kind of made him uncomfortable)

"If that's what you call it, sure," Stiles shrugged back, sitting on the floral-patterned couch next to Derek and glancing at the cat who had just come up to rub against his leg

"So what are they?" Derek asked a second later

"A type of faery, a very rare type of faery, there are only a few born every generation as a matter of fact, Sleigh Beggy are like... magical battery chargers,"

"Battery... chargers?" Derek asked slowly

"Yes, they power up magical conduits like faery rings, telluric currents, nemetons... and they attract the supernatural like magnets,"

"Or beacons," Stiles added lowly

"Exactly, Sleigh Beggy are very unique, and very powerfull, but their magic energy is usually syphined off by supernatural 'batteries', often without them even knowing it, usually Sleigh Beggy can only regain energy the same way any living thing regains energy- food, sleep, lack of stress- but under some rare circumstances they can feed off of other supernatural 'batteries' as well, the circumstances just have to be all in alignment for it, because of how their energy is usually fed off of, their magic more closely resembles that of a witch than that of a faery's, since they require more rituals to actually boost their power enough to perform it, they do have natural magic though, alot of times they'll perform it without even knowing it- especially before they realize what they are- little things like locking and unlocking doors, accidentally controlling electricity-"

"Teleportation?"

Kara's mouth opened, eyebrows raised and clearly caught off guard

"Well... yeah, I mean, that's certainly possible, and considering that you're really strong for a Sleigh Beggy I really wouldn't put it past you,"

"What else can you tell us?" Derek asked a second later

"Not much, honestly, Sleigh Beggy are pretty rare and really secretive, but ... there is something you should know about their lifespans, generally speaking Sleigh Beggy have the potential to live just as long as any other faery, but because their energy is so often drained from them without even realizing it their lives are usually cut pretty short, even if it isn't the magic drain it's self that causes it, they overextend themselves when they don't know that they've been drained,"

"So how would you suggest making the best lemonade out of these lemons?" Stiles asked with a tight frown

"Well... I wouldn't exactly call this lemons, I mean sure Sleigh Beggy don't have it the easiest but they've got some really strong power and really cool magic! I mean it could be worse!"

Stiles bit his lip, eyes narrowing a bit

"And what kind of faery are you exactly? Does the impossibly sunshiney optimism come free with your genetics or...?"

"Actually I'm a Leannan Sidhe', so.. not exactly,"

Stiles' eyebrows shot up, mouth opening slightly

"Ok, didn't expect that one,"

"What I think Stiles was trying to allude to is that ... where he lives now, there are alot of... problems, there's a nemeton there for one thing, and it tends to draw other people to town who don't have the best intentions,"

"That... doesn't sound like a great thing," Kara said slowly

"Well for one thing you need to learn to actually use your magic, that way you'll be able to stop it from getting drained, power up if you need to, know when something is trying to absorb your energy, and ofcourse put your magic to good use instead of letting it leak out like a faulty drain, I also think you need to be in a place with a more... stable supernatural community, like the one we have here, our community is pretty nice, don't you think so Derek?"

"Yeah, it's ... nice," Derek confirmed with a nod

Stiles couldn't help giving him a strange look, it was kind of hard to believe that Derek of all people was in any kind of... community, supernatural or otherwise, but here he was

He had investments and a house and belonged to a community and KNEW people- normal people too, well.. as normal as Kara could be considered... but probably not a serial killer and that was a big step up from before

What ELSE did Derek do now? Garden?

"Being in a place without a nemeton- or any variation of it- is probably a good idea too, no quicker way to suck down your energy,"

"What happens if I stay?"

"Well there's no real way of... determining that but... I would think that if you're in a high stress environment like that, one where your energy is obviously being drained on a pretty consistent basis, it's not going to be good for your health, living in a place with a nemeton- and an active one at that- is especially risky, it could severely shorten your lifespan, particularly if you start developing your magic more,"

Stiles looked down, swallowing and concentrating on watching the cat rubbing up against his legs

"Oh! Cookies are done!" Kara chirped, leaping up just as the timer went off

"You guys are staying for cookies right?"

The moment Derek agreed- albeit awkwardly- Stiles knew he had entered the Twilight Zone

~+~

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine,"

Stiles knew that Derek knew he was lying, hell it didn't take a werewolf to figure that out, but Derek- bless his heart- didn't push further

"I'm gonna take a bath, alright?"

Sometimes he just felt like he needed to soak and let the water wash away whatever crap was hanging onto him, although he knew within reason that water couldn't really wash away emotional crap...

"Yeah, go ahead, I'll be... out here," Derek agreed

Stiles didn't waste time, finding his way to the bathroom and immediately shutting the door, tossing his clothes off and starting the water

He barely waited for it to heat up before sinking into the bath, leaning back and letting out a shaking breath

His head was so full, so packed with information and anxiety and stress that it ... it HURT... it hurt so badly and he couldn't even begin to sort out everything that was consuming him

He zoned out, so cluttered and overcrowded in his mind, just trying not to let the pain get to him any more than it already had

He didn't know how long he was out like that, completely unaware of everything around him, but by the time he was jerked back into reality the previously empty tub was almost overflowing and he had to hurry to turn the water off

It was at that point that he realized what had awoken him from his stupor and glanced towards the nocking sound at the door

"Stiles? I brought you some clean clothes, I'm going to leave them by the door alright?"

"Yeah," he managed to call back hoarsely

"Thanks Derek,"

"Ofcourse,"

Stiles swallowed again, closing his eyes and tightening his fists

"Hey... Derek?"

There was a short pause before, much to Stiles' releif, he received an answer

"...Yeah?"

"What would you do?"

The question sounded open and general but he knew that Derek would understand

What would he do if it were him? What would he do if his entire life was caving in around him? What would he do with... with any of this?

"I... don't know, that's really a hard question, my circumstances are very different from your's-"

"Then if you were me, if ... if our circumstances were the same, what would you do? What.... what should **I** do?"

He waited, not even realizing at the time that he was practically holding his breath until Derek finally spoke again

"Well.... you were planning to go to college anyway right? If-"

"I'm not," Stiles interrupted, glancing over the side of the tub at the door

"...What?"

"I'm not, going to college I mean... I've thought about it alot but ... I don't think I could... it doesn't feel ..." he paused, chewing his tongue and closing his eyes again

"I don't think it's a good idea, I don't think it's..."

"Right for you?" Derek guessed from behind the door

"Yeah... yeah something like that, I mean let's just ... to put it really simply, alot of the things I planned for aren't... they're not going to happen, and I just don't feel like college is... for me.... there are alot of reasons bu-"

"Stiles, you don't have to explain it to me, I get it ok? I really do, I mean after all, I never went to college either,"

"Yeah," he mumbled back, getting out of the water and grabbing a towel from the rack behind him

"I wasn't planning to leave Beacon Hills Derek," he said slowly, wich was the first time he had admitted that to anyone, hell it was the first time he had even said it out loud...

"I mean where else would I go? What else would I do? They... Beacon Hills NEEDS us, my DAD needs me... everybody else is leaving, abandoning it... everything and everyone... and I just.... needed to stay," he paused, moving closer to the door as he dried off, he wasn't really done with his bath but he wanted to be closer, hated talking from a distance

"I mean ... now that I know I'm practically CAUSING the problems they're going through though-"

"Stiles you're NOT the cause of anything,"

"I am though, even if it is... indirect, I'm powering the nemeton when it feeds off of me, wich is causing it to draw more ghoulies and beasties into town, the good sure, but also the bad, mostly the bad... and I mean like Supergirl said herself, the nemeton isn't the only thing taking power from me, I get my magic sucked out by all kinds of other sources, just hanging around other supernatural creatures sometimes, I just... fuel them... how many times have I accidentally super-charged some baddie huh? I mean God for all we know I was just food for ... for the chimeras and the beast and hell.... God... that's why the nogitsune chose me... that's why he chose me instead of Allison, not because I'm powerless but because I'm power-FULL, because he could feed off of me, because-"

"Stiles!"

He shut up, backing away as Derek opened the door, peeking in and stepping into the bathroom once he saw that Stiles had a towel wrapped around himself

"Don't think that," Derek said slowly, swallowing as he stepped closer

"Don't... ever think that those things were your fault,"

"Der-"

"No, I mean it, there's NOTHING you could have done to prevent it IF any of those.... things... even took energy from you in the first place, wich you have no proof of to begin with,"

Stiles swallowed, sitting down slowly on the floor and pulling his nees up to his chest

"But... if I go back, and something else bad happens, then it will be-"

"It won't-"

"Derek.... I can't... keep feeding the nemeton, and I know that I am, I ... I can tell, ok? I've had... dreams, if you can call them that... it's trying to ... bond to me or something and I just... I KNOW that my power is feeding into it, I can't let that go on and then pretend like I couldn't have prevented it the next time that stupid tree draws something to Beacon Hills,"

"You asked me what you should do," Derek said quietly, sitting down slowly beside him

"I think you've already got your answer though,"

Stiles sniffed, rubbing at his eyes and looking down

"I'm not ready for this... I wasn't... I wasn't ready to be alone Derek, or to leave my dad, or... to .. God to move so far away, I.. I don't...."

"You aren't alone Stiles," Derek reached out, very carefully putting his hand over the Sleigh Beggy's

"I'm right here with you, I may not be your dad but... but I'm not going to let you be alone,"

"Thanks," Stiles croaked, wiping his eyes and moving a little bit closer

"I wasn't even ready to leave my neighborhood Derek, not to mention California...."

"You don't have to leave California, we could... we could go back you know, not to Beacon Hills but... close, closer... we could move someplace quiet like Santa Clara, or someplace exciting like San Fransisco.... all I ask is that we avoid LA,"

Stiles scoffed, shaking his head and sighing quietly

"When you keep saying 'we' like that it makes us sound like an old married couple,"

He said it fondly though, with a hint of laughter in his voice and a small smile on his face, his hand squeezing Derek's a little harder

"Would that be harder to believe than finding out you're a faery that feeds the supernatual world and apparently teleported yourself here for no apparent reason?" Derek teased

Stiles shook his head, moving closer still and rubbing his neck with his free hand

"It wasn't... for no apparent reason," he said slowly

"I ... I was looking for you, the past few weeks.... I really wanted to see you again and last night... I had spent hours looking, the last thing I remember thinking was how much I wanted to find you so... I think I like... wished myself here or something, if that doesn't sound too stupid or crazy,"

"It doesn't sound stupid or crazy, magic relies on willpower and on what you desire more than it does anything else, so if you desired it strongly enough I'm not surprised you used up your reserve of magical energy to get what you wanted,"

"Huh," Stiles mumbled back, giving a slow nod and going quiet for a few moments

"Derek?"

"Hm?"

"In the spirit of 'everything around me is changing and I have to learn to take more chances'-"

"LEARN to take MORE chances? Stiles since I've known you you've run your jeep into a building, launched a solo rescue mission into a deranged hunter's basement, have gotten yourself nearly killed MULTIPLE times, never fail to run your mouth off to people who could and would kill you, have single-handedly babysat werewolves on the full moon more times than I can count and that's just BARELY scratching the surface, what else could you possibly describe as 'taking more chances'? Sky diving? Wrestling venomous snakes? Playing Russian Roulette with a loaded gun?"

"This,"

Honestly, Derek hadn't known what to expect when Stiles leaned over and kissed him, the younger male's eyes closed, his lips soft and firm if not a bit unsteady, but still earnest, eager, sure....

He was too shocked to kiss back at first, and sort of regretted not getting his brain together sooner when Stiles leaned back

"I know this probably looks bad... I'm vulnerable, I'm.... emotionally compromised... I'm leaning on you as my only support system blah blah blah.... but ... I swear I'm totally in a full mindset to consent to this ok? I'm telling you, right now, my lips on your lips, that's a thing that I want to happen and if you don't want it to happen then let it be because you don't like me like that, not because you're scared that I'm not-"

Derek surged forward, pressing his lips as firmly against Stiles' as the other had just moments before, and when the kiss succeeded in quieting the faery ... well... that kind of settled an experiment Derek had been wondering about for years...

"Oh my God we are so doing that some more," Stiles gasped once the werewolf pulled away, cheeks flushed and licking his lips like he had just committed a sin

"Stiles... are you really sur-"

"I've BEEN sure since I was seventeen Big Guy, you can blame a toxic cocktail of bad timing, monsters crawling out of the woodwork and my many failed attempts to crawl out of the closet.. you know... failing... for that not happening sooner,"

"I wouldn't have let it if you were seventeen so... it's a good thing you waited anyway," Derek shrugged

Stiles snorted, shaking his head and running his fingers through his hair

"Whatever you say buddy... anyway, so, are we good? Is this a thing that's going to happen? Can I have one single good thing happen to me today?"

Derek snorted, leaning closer and carefully kissing his forehead

"Well I wouldn't describe myself as a good thing... but I am formerly single and I am happening to you so make of that what you will,"

"Ohhhh wolf can joke... nice, now leave, I'm gonna salvage what I can of what's probably lukewarm water by now, then I'm making up for lost time with that pizza,"

"Alright alright, I'm going," Derek chuckled, grabbing the fresh clothes he had left outside the door and placing them on the counter for Stiles before pausing in the doorway

"By the way..... why did you call Kara 'Supergirl' earlier?" he asked in confusion

Stiles grinned, standing up and snickering

"Ohhh Derek, it sounds like we just found what we're watching wile we polish off that pizza,"

Derek still didn't quite understand, but he shut the door anyway, having the suddenly eerie feeling that this was going to be what life would be like with Stiles from now

He couldn't wait to get started


End file.
